Karsten Dusse
Faber & Faber
2025 (2020)
327
Paperback
Crime/Black Comedy
Borrowed from Library
I didn't kill anyone until I was forty-two. That's actually a little on the late side for my current professional environment. Admittedly, I did kill almost half a dozen in the week that followed.
Björn has been given an ultimatum: repair his work-life balance, or his wife Katharina will leave him - and take their daughter.
He reluctantly starts a mindfulness class and to his surprise, it's a revelation. He becomes calmer, more focused, and he's starting to understand what's really important in life. So when his client and brutal crime boss Dragan Sergowicz tries to interfere with his precious family time, Björn remembers his new-found goal to find serenity - and kills him.
Now Björn can deepen his practice and seek inner peace - violently.
I came to the book of Murder Mindfully after having watched the TV adaptation of this first novel and its sequel on Netflix. I adored the TV series and therefore wanted to read the original book, and that, too, was great; however, I fear it did lose some of its impact because I had watched the adaptation first. Much of the fun in this story is seeing the crazy paths Björn's mindfulness lessons take him on, but the TV adaptation remained pretty faithful to the book, so, of course, I already knew what was coming every step of the way and there was no longer any tension or surprise as events unfolded. The same will likely be true when I read the second book (which I plan to do), but hopefully once I get further in the series, and pull ahead of the TV adaptation, there will be a bit more suspense as I read. Regardless of that issue, the book had a fun narrative style, and I love how the mindfulness tips are things that actually make sense and could be used in day-to-day life (though perhaps with less bloodshed!). The prose is full of humour and wit, and the story is a clever and fresh idea. In the end, I am giving this one 5 stars. I toyed with 4.5 at first, but I decided I was only subtracting because the momentum of the story was lost for me due to my familiarity with the plot beats. Had I been reading this without any prior knowledge, it would definitely have been a 5-star read, so that's what I am going to give it.
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